


The Crescent Moon Note

by Crazy_Pairing_Person



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Chocolate, Fluff, Getting Together, Love Confessions, Love Letters, M/M, Secret Admirer, Secret Crush, Sweet, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28842186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy_Pairing_Person/pseuds/Crazy_Pairing_Person
Summary: Every Valentine's Day in middle school, Yamaguchi received a single gift - a box of seemingly homemade chocolates, with a simple note that had nothing but a crescent moon on it. He never bothered to find his admirer, saying that he's just grateful that someone bothered to give him something in the first place.But this year, the admirer decides to make their identity known.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 202





	The Crescent Moon Note

**Author's Note:**

> "It's January"
> 
> VALENTINE'S
> 
> "It's JANUARY"
> 
> VALENTINE'S
> 
> " _JANUARY_ "
> 
> _VAL. EN. TINE'S_

February 9th. Five days until Valentine's Day.

It's cold. Tsukishima lets out a breath, watching it fog up the air around him.

It's Sunday. Yamaguchi is practicing his jump-float serve with Shimada, last he checked.

Which makes today perfect, even though the temperature isn't.

He enters the store and scans the area. All around him are hearts and pink and red and it's almost sickening, honestly.

But it's always, always worth it, seeing Yamaguchi's bright smile and the sparkle in his eyes.

He sighs, picks up a basket, and makes his way towards a baking aisle, bypassing all of the pre-made chocolates and sweets. He glances at the counter where a clerk is wrapping some boxes for the people who come up.

He knows he won't go there. Though it had been embarrassing the first time around, his sloppy wrapping job is just one more sign of proof that Yamaguchi will have that the chocolates are homemade, that they're made with genuine love.

He finds what he's looking for soon enough.

Many of the ingredients are sold out, he notices, which is slightly upsetting but he supposes is to be expected. But he has no choice - Yamaguchi comes over far too often for him to buy the stuff in advance. He'll just have to ask Akiteru to buy some stuff for him tomorrow when he's coming over.

He pulls the stuff that's available off of the shelf and puts it into his basket. His first time doing this, he'd brought his brother with him, and had had him buy the stuff. The second time, he'd come on his own, but had felt like people were staring at him and ended up paying a random girl to go to the counter for him to buy the stuff. The third time, and now this time too, he's over it, and gets in line with his ingredients without any hesitation.

He has the basic ingredients in his basket, the cocoa butter and the powdered milk and the sugar, as well as some food coloring. He thinks maybe he could do with some peanut butter, too - Yamaguchi likes the combination of chocolate and peanut butter. And he still needs cocoa powder for the milk chocolate ones, though he usually does white chocolate for the most part anyway, since it's easier to add coloring to those. And some vanilla extract would be-

"Tsukishima-kun?"

He nearly jumps out of his skin. He turns around, heart thumping as he looks... And sees Yachi.

Oh, hell.

"Ah... Yachi-san. Hello," he says, his voice a little strained. "Fancy seeing you here."

Yachi gives a hesitant smile, and holds up her basket. It's got most of the same things he's buying, but in a larger quantity. "I'm preparing for Valentine's," she says. "I like to make my friendship chocolates from scratch. I appreciate all my friends, after all!" Her eyes dart down to his basket, then back up to his face, more hesitation in her eyes. "And... What about you?"

His cheeks warm. He glances around, then meets her eyes. "Can you... Keep a secret?"

* * *

It's February 10th. Four days until Valentine's Day.

It's Monday, and it's afternoon practice, and Tanaka and Noya are filling the locker room with their typical over-excitement about the possibility of getting chocolates on Friday.

"Guys, even if you get chocolates, it might not be romance chocolate," Ennoshita, ever the calm one. "Yachi-san and Shimizu-senpai will probably give all of us chocolate, for example..."

"Chocolate from Kiyoko-san?!" the pair immediately scream, looking at Ennoshita as if he's given them a million yen. Tsukishima sighs and shakes his head. Ennoshita walked right into that one...

"I've never gotten romance chocolate," Hinata says idly. "Just gratitude or friendship chocolate. It would be kind of nice to get romance chocolate, just once..."

"You can have mine," Kageyama says flatly. "I don't like chocolate that much and I never know what to do with it..."

"Ehh?! You've gotten romance chocolate before, Kageyama?! That's not fair!"

Yamaguchi lets out a laugh. "You might have gotten romance chocolate before, Hinata! Maybe you just didn't realize it was."

"I could see that," Tsukishima agrees, looking at Hinata with a smirk. "I doubt you would know romance if it came up and smacked you in the face."

Hinata pouts at his fellow first-years. "Well, have either of you ever gotten romance chocolate?" he asks, crossing his arms.

"I have, but not from anyone I actually cared to get it from," Tsukishima says. He glances at Yamaguchi from the corner of his eye pointedly as he speaks. But the other doesn't seem to catch his meaning, so he continues getting dressed. "And Yamaguchi had a secret admirer all throughout middle school."

"Secret admirer?!"

The shout comes from every single one of their teammates. They all practically attack Yamaguchi with their questions, asking so many of them that Tsukishima can't really tell who's asking what.

"Eh?! C-calm down, guys! It's not a big deal!" Yamaguchi cries out above the frantic voices. "I mean, it was just the one person. I never even found out who they were! And it's not like I'll ever find out, either... They probably went to a totally different school!"

Tsukishima bites the inside of his cheek and doesn't respond to that.

"You've still gotta tell us about it!" Noya demands. "Was it homemade or storebought?!"

"It was pretty obviously homemade," Yamaguchi says with a little laugh. "The chocolates were kinda shaped weird, like the person's mold was all messed up or something. And the wrapping was really sloppy. But it was sweet! I liked it, because it made it obvious that it was real, you know?"

The reactions vary, but all of them seem pretty openly amazed by it. Tsukishima absently wonders if _any_ of them have ever received any sort of chocolate, to be so enthusiastically amazed by the thought of Yamaguchi getting some.

"How do you know it was the same person each time?" Hinata asks next. "Maybe it was three totally different people!"

Yamaguchi shakes his head. "All three of them had little notes on them. But they didn't actually say anything - they just had a crescent moon drawn on them."

A beat of silence passes. Tsukishima feels a weight drop in his stomach, and he focuses intently on lacing up his shoes.

"A crescent..." Tanaka whispers.

"Moon?" Hinata finishes, brows furrowing.

"Uh... Yeah?" Yamaguchi says, blinking. "Is something wrong with that?"

Hinata opens his mouth, "Well, Yamaguchi-"

Kageyama slaps a hand over Hinata's mouth before another word can escape it. "Shut up, dumbass!" he hisses. "You can't just tell him!"

"Eh? Tell me wha-"

"Come on, Yamaguchi," Tsukishima says, grabbing his friend by the arm. "Let's go do our warm-ups. Since everyone else seems to think chocolate is more important than practice."

He drags Yamaguchi out of the room and towards the gym. Behind him, everyone else stares at the door as it slams shut.

"Okay... Well, now we know it was him," Tanaka says flatly. "Because if it wasn't, he wouldn't care one way or the other about us talking about chocolate."

Everyone nods slowly in agreement.

* * *

February 11th. Three days.

He stands over the molds, examining them. Were they really so misshapen? They're rubber, so he supposes maybe they are, but to the point that Yamaguchi had noticed? He purses his lips in slight annoyance.

Whatever. He doesn't want to go buy more. And Yamaguchi had outright said that it made them feel more 'real'...

The sun has long since set beyond the horizon, and his homework is done - and it's time for him to start making the chocolates.

He had had a lot of practice. He'd noticed that Yamaguchi preferred the ones without anything else - no cookie pieces or chopped-up nuts or anything - inside them. The only exception was the ones with peanut butter, but those were really hard to make, and he wasn't sure he wanted to bother this year...

_'But it's for Yamaguchi. It's to make him smile.'_

...Damn it all.

He puts down the molds and marches towards the pantry, feeling slightly put-out by his secret adoration for Yamaguchi and his smile.

While he scans the shelves, his brother enters the kitchen. "Ah, I love this time of year..."

Tsukishima pulls his head out of the pantry, shooting a narrowed glance towards Akiteru. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know, the time of year where you make a bunch of chocolates for your best friend but don't tell him they're from you and watch as he gets all excited and happy over the thought of someone liking him," Akiteru says with an innocent smile. "That time of year!"

Tsukishima huffs. "You can either help me look for peanut butter or shut up," he says. "Which is it gonna be?"

Akiteru laughs and holds up his hands as if to say that he's unarmed. "I just came in for a drink!" he says. "I'll leave you to it, promise."

Akiteru grabs a soda from the fridge, then turns to leave. But he pauses, glancing over his shoulder at Kei, who's looking back in the pantry. "You know, if I were you, I'd tell him. Maybe not this year, but... Definitely before you graduate high school. Because who knows if you'll still be able to give him chocolates when you're in college."

Tsukishima freezes.

"I mean, it's just a thought," Akiteru insists. "...Oh, and we're out of peanut butter. Bye!"

He's out of the kitchen before Tsukishima can respond.

* * *

February 12th. Two days.

Tsukishima feels like maybe he should kill his brother for putting that thought in his head.

Because he can't... He can't tell Yamaguchi...

He glances at Yamaguchi out of the corner of his eye. "...Hey, you know that secret admirer you had in middle school?"

"Hm?" Yamaguchi looks at him, curiosity in his eyes. "What about them?"

Tsukishima swallows thickly, and turns his eyes away. "What do you think you'd do if they did go to Karasuno? If they left you chocolate this year too? And next year, and the year after..."

Yamaguchi hums, touching his chin while he considers it. "I think I'd be really curious, then. I mean, I never thought much about it before. I was just glad that someone liked me and made me chocolate in the first place! But if they still like me and go to Karasuno... I think I'd start to wonder who they are."

Tsukishima adjusts his glasses. "I see. That makes sense."

The chocolates are in his fridge at home, hardening in their molds. He'll have to pop them out and wrap them tonight. And tomorrow... Tomorrow, he's got one more preparation to make.

* * *

February 13th. Valentine's Day is less than twenty-four hours away.

Tsukishima sits at his desk. Homework is done and put away. A piece of paper is in front of him, mocking him with its relative blankness.

It's not entirely blank, he justifies to himself.

It has Yamaguchi's name at the top.

And nothing else...

He sighs and picks up the pencil.

It can't be too hard, right? He's gotten plenty of love letters before. All those girls were able to write their feelings just fine! So why is he finding it so difficult? Why...

_'Because you've spent this entire time hiding your feelings, obviously,'_ he reminds himself. And suddenly he thinks that maybe he'd like to go back in time and try to convince himself to actually show emotion. Just once a month, maybe. That would be good, right?

"Ugh... What was the point of giving him chocolates every year if... If..."

Wait.

Whenever he makes those chocolates, he thinks about Yamaguchi. And whenever Yamaguchi ate the chocolates, he'd say that 'he could feel the love'. Right. So... Think about Yamaguchi. That's easy. He does that all the time, anyway.

Tsukishima takes a deep breath, and brings his pencil to meet the paper.

* * *

February 14th has arrived. It's both too soon and not soon enough.

He walks to school with Yamaguchi like normal, but once they get to the school grounds, he breaks off, telling Yamaguchi that he has to go to the bathroom. Yamaguchi seems vaguely confused - he always is, every year - but shrugs it off. Yamaguchi goes to the club room, and Tsukishima heads inside.

He finds the classroom, and makes his way to Yamaguchi's desk.

It's early, since they had to get here for morning practice. And even the most desperate-to-hide-her-identity girl wouldn't show up this early.

Still, he scans the area, checking to ensure that he's alone. Once he's satisfied, he unzips his bag, and pulls out the poorly-wrapped package, with the envelope taped to it.

Instead of the normal post-it note with the crescent moon, this year, Yamaguchi will be receiving a letter. Just for the sake of his own sanity, though, he made sure to write, on the outside of the envelope, 'Read this letter alone'.

Because he doesn't need Yamaguchi opening it as soon as he sees it, and reading it right in front of everyone in their class...

He's pretty sure he'd die of embarrassment.

He tucks the package into Yamaguchi's desk, and then high-tails it out of the room.

* * *

He sees the exact moment that Yamaguchi notices the package. While pulling his notebook and pencils out, he glances towards the opening of his desk, and pauses just long enough for Tsukishima to know that he sees it.

He's already sitting at his own desk, though, so he can't go and say anything. It would be weird, like he was openly admitting to watching Yamaguchi. He has to wait until lunchtime.

And when it arrives, Yamaguchi pulls the package out, and looks at the envelope for a moment before heading over to Tsukishima, so they can eat together like they always do. "Hey, Tsukki... Look what I got."

Tsukishima hums, keeping his expression carefully neutral. "Wow. Do you think it's the same person?"

Yamaguchi's brows furrow, and the looks at the writing. He pulls off the envelope to look closer at the writing. "Yeah... Definitely." He giggles a bit as he sits down. "They left an actual letter this time, too. I wonder what it says..."

Tsukishima has a minor heart attack when he sees Yamaguchi finger the edge of the envelope, like he's about to disregard the instructions on the front. But he doesn't, in the end, and goes to open the chocolates instead. He hums, looking over them before picking out the one in the very middle - a pink one that Tsukishima remembers making towards the end. He'd had just barely enough left to put in the mold, and it had come out a little lopsided.

But Yamaguchi looks so happy, eyes sparkling at it like it's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. "I really hope they'll tell me who they are this year..."

Tsukishima's heart swells as Yamaguchi eats it. He masks it carefully and motions to Yamaguchi's actual lunch. "You should save those for later. You need to actually eat your lunch."

Yamaguchi sticks his tongue out at him, but opens his lunch box anyway.

* * *

Tsukishima gets home and already he's watching his phone. He can't find it in himself to start on his homework or eat something - he just goes up to his room, and stares at his phone, waiting for it to ring.

It shouldn't be taking this long. It shouldn't. It was a letter, not a 300-page novel. Why is Yamaguchi taking so long?!

Maybe he's doing his homework. Yeah, that makes sense...

_'He told you he would read it first thing, even before starting on his homework.'_

Right... He did say that. Fuck.

Tsukishima groans and buries his head into his arms. Now he's gone and done it. He should have just left the moon note again. Yamaguchi is freaked out, now. He's gonna avoid him now. He is. Tsukishima has ruined their friendship. There's no coming back from this. There just isn't.

He hears the doorbell. His head snaps up. He stands up, but his mom is faster, and he hears her open the door...

"Oh, Tadashi-kun!" he hears her say. "It's so good to see you. Are you going to sleep over again?"

Tsukishima creeps to his door, and opens it as silently as possible so he can listen to Yamaguchi's response.

"Oh, uh, no ma'am. I just... I really need to talk to Tsukki."

"I see... Well, he's up in his room! You can just go on up, you know the way."

Crap!

Tsukishima throws himself to his desk and pulls out his notebooks. He doesn't really remember what his homework was supposed to be right now, but he decides it's better to at least pretend he's busy and Yamaguchi's lack of response wasn't taking ten years off of his life for every second he waited (he thinks he'll be lucky to see tomorrow at this rate).

Yamaguchi enters the room with a tentative knock on the doorframe, and Tsukishima turns to look at him, careful and neutral and calm. "Oh, hey," he says. "I didn't know you were coming over."

"I, um..." Yamaguchi shifts nervously. "I thought... We should discuss this in person." And as if to emphasize what 'this' is, he holds out the letter - and now that he sees it a second time, Tsukishima really thinks maybe he should have gone over it before putting it in the envelope and bringing it to school. He's seen the word 'love' used less in shoujo manga.

And, of course, he'd signed it with his name this time. Of course.

"Can we maybe not discuss it at all?" Tsukishima asks with a wince, turning away so he can stop... Looking at it.

"Wha- No! Tsukki, we have to talk! I..." Yamaguchi sighs, but it sounds more like a whine, really. "I need to know... If you really feel this way."

"Why would I do all that if I didn't?"

_Why would I make the chocolate. Why would I wrap it myself. Why would I be so interested in what you think of the taste. Why would I always find a reason to not go directly to morning practice with you on Valentine's Day. Why would I put a note with it that had a moon drawn on it?!_

Yamaguchi lets out another noise. "I-I don't know! I just..." He huffs. "I never... I didn't..." He uses the letter to cover his rapidly flushing face, but Tsukishima can see the pink color spreading to his ears even so.

Despite himself, it's a nice sight.

"Yamaguchi," he says, slow and deliberate. "I never did it expecting you to feel the same. You know that, right?"

"...Huh?" Yamaguchi lowers the letter enough to peek over at him. "What do you mean, Tsukki?"

"I mean that I don't need you to love me back," Tsukishima replies. "I mean that I just want you to be happy. I always did it to make you happy. I never... I didn't tell you because I thought you would suddenly feel the same. I'm not that delusional. I told you because you said you wanted to know. In middle school, just having the chocolates was enough for you, but this year you wanted to know who was behind them. So I told you. That's it. That was my only reason for telling you - I swear. You don't have to pressure yourself-"

"Ugh! Shut up, Tsukki!"

The words make him jump, and he blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. "Oh, sorry Yamaguchi!"

A beat of silence passes, and they stare blankly at each other for a moment.

And then, suddenly, they're laughing. Tsukishima curls in on himself, one hand coming up to cover his mouth like it could muffle the sound. Yamaguchi, meanwhile, practically falls over, arms wrapping around his middle as he laughs and laughs.

* * *

It's February 17th. Valentine's Day has come and gone.

"Hey, Yamaguchi, what did that letter say?" Hinata asks as soon as Tsukishima and Yamaguchi enter the club room for morning practice. "Did the person say who they were?!"

Yamaguchi giggles shyly, and Tsukishima watches him with an adoring shine in his eyes. "Yeah... He did. And I'm already thinking of what do give him for White Day!"

All eyes turn to them, wide and curious. "So you're...?"

Yamaguchi grins. Instead of answering with words, he turns and stands on his toes, pressing a kiss to Tsukishima's cheek.

The questions are loud, and frantic, and excited, but they fall on deaf ears, as Tsukishima just stands there smiling to himself, his face feeling as though it could catch fire.


End file.
